- Investment opportunities & challenges under virtual spotlight
- Region’s top industry experts to debate real estates future trends
Cityscape Global’s inaugural two-day virtual investor summit will take place early October and unpack the trends, opportunities and challenges that will shape the GCC’s real estate industry in the coming year.
The ‘GCC Investor Summit’ will run on October 5 and 6 and will drill down on regional government plans around investment, tourism, and the building of a diverse economy, as well as delve into investment opportunities, the role of tech and AI in real estate, and the GCC economy. The Summit will also see the region’s leading architects debate trends which will shape the future of real estate design and delivery across the GCC.
Following a keynote address by Majid Saqer Almarri, CEO of the Registration and Real Estate Services Sector (RERA) at the Dubai Land Department, speakers from across the GCC and the USA will address a range of subjects from post-pandemic changes to residential, hospitality and healthcare assets, regional economic outlooks, sustainability demand and cross-border transactions.
The Summit will explore how technology is making cities smarter, shifting design dynamics in the GCC’s architecture development, and changing the entire buying, selling and marketing experience.
Can Turkan, Founder of XPLOR, which was recently bought by Ayana Holdings, and which also sits under the Realogy umbrella, is developing future technologies that enhance customer experience and improve operational efficiency in various asset classes. He says the challenges of 2020 have spurred the industry to speed up its digitalisation drive.
“Although digital transformation has been on the agenda of many businesses for years, the Covid-19 pandemic expedited its adoption across industries including real estate. As a company that pioneers new technologies that transform the sector, we are excited about the prospects of increased focus on digitisation,” he explained.
Sustainability will also be topping the virtual summit agenda with investments in sustainable design a key topic. Leading architect Jason Burnside, Partner at Godwin Austen Johnson and lead designer behind Dubai’s Arcadia High School – the first school in the region to achieve a LEED Gold green building certification – discussed the clear benefits of adopting sustainable designs for a project:
“Sustainable design is all about thinking ahead and designing with the end goal in mind. A wise investment at the outset will bring real benefits both in terms of a bigger sustainable objective and the operational running costs.
Adopting a sustainable approach from the outset can provide building owners with realistic payback periods and the commercial viability of adopting energy-efficient measures in building design, construction and operation to ensure a healthy return on their investment.”
When asked about future opportunities, Burnside said: “A key area of advancement in the future is solar energy. It could, in the future, become the most important source of energy in many parts of the world and, as it becomes less expensive and more efficient, it is more likely to be embraced by building owners and developers.”
The virtual Summit is a key element of the new hybrid Cityscape 2021 format which culminates in the live, in-person conference and exhibition at Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo 2020 from 7th – 11th November 2021.
The Cityscape Global Summit 2021 is expected to be a watershed event heralding in a transformative, post-pandemic era for real estate, which is beginning to see promising signs of recovery.
“With luxury property achieving record price transactions, a new influx of resident investors to the region, megaprojects advancing in Saudi Arabia and regulation and incentives fueling demand in Egypt, there are signs that the Middle East could be set for a new Golden Age for real estate,” said Chris Speller, Group Director of Cityscape at event organiser Informa Markets.
